Apparitions: God’s revelation through Mary

We wait for no new revelation of God. Through Christ, who can be likened to a master key, God has spoken everything He wants us to know about Him. “Our knowledge of God in Christ is totally adequate: There is nothing to be discovered about God (about God’s mercy, love, fidelity, justice, etc.) which has not already been disclosed through Christ” (Richard P. McBrien, Catholicism, p. 268).

However, there are other keys through which we continually know God. He continues to be disclosed through nature, signs of the times and even on individuals. These revelations are private. They are “prone to distortion, illusion, projection, and misinterpretation” (ibid.). Among these apparitions are of the Blessed Virgin Mary as in Fatima and Lourdes.

According to Richard McBrien, in order to test the authenticity of these apparitions, the Church has these criteria: 1. Is the revelation consistent with the public revelation of Sacred Scripture and of the official interpretations of that revelation by the Church, officially and through the leading witnesses of faith and its theologians? 2. Does the private revelation work toward building up the Body of Christ and the human family, or is it finally divisive? 3. Does the private revelation contribute to our knowledge of God and of our human responsibilities, or is it merely concerned with the unusual and the bizarre? 4. Are the bearers of the private revelation themselves good examples and witnesses of integral Christian and human existence, or are they finally odd, eccentric, and difficult to deal with? 5. Is the devotional practice arising from the alleged private revelation approved by the local bishop, who has responsibility for the faith and good order of the diocese?

Furthermore, if the Church approves of any Marian apparition as authentic, like Fatima and Lourdes, no Catholic is required to believe in this private revelation. These revelations are not binding to all but may be freely chosen for devotional practices.